After Franklin Morales drilled Luke Scott in the top of the ninth — apparent retaliation for a plunking of Dustin Pedroia earlier — benches cleared in Friday’s game between the Rays and Red Sox at Fenway Park, which Tampa Bay went on to win 7-4.

Some bad blood likely carried over from last week’s series in Tampa Bay, in which the Rays hit Adrian Gonzalez and Morales later came back and plunked Will Rhymes. It was a similar scene tonight, with Pedroia getting hit and the Red Sox later going after Scott. Morales actually threw behind Scott once before coming back and hitting him in the knee.

The oddity is that neither Morales nor Scott, who held on to his bat while jawing at Morales after the plunking, was ejected from the game. Morales certainly deserved to be tossed; his intentions were clear after he threw behind Scott. Scott didn’t really do much wrong himself.

Also unusual: the coaching staffs seemed much more interested in mixing it up than the players did after the benches cleared. Rays coaches George Hendrick and Jim Hickey and Red Sox coach Tim Bogar — a former Rays coach — and manager Bobby Valentine seemed more belligerent that anyone else.

After things appeared to settle down and the parties returned to their dugouts, there was another incident, this one apparently involving some fans, that had B.J. Upton coming back out of the Rays dugout and pointing up to the stands. We may hear more about what happened there after the game.

Morales went on to finish the inning after order was restored. Still, he could well find himself suspended for a few games for his actions tonight.

I’m so tired of “hold me back, hold me back” baseball fights. Automatic 25 game suspension for every player that enters a fight between pitcher and batter and manager gets 50 games. Anyone who gets excited with these stupid “bench clearing brawls/hug fests” is a clown.

I was shocked that Morales wasn’t tossed. His intent was clear after he threw behind Scott. The umpires could have avoided the whole thing by instantly inssuing a warning after Morales threw behind Scott. As for Morales’s retaliation, the Rays clearly were not intentionally throwing at Pedroia. There was a man on second, and Ortiz and Gonzalez were up next in a 7 – 4 game. The Sox at Fenway have lethal offense. It would have been stupid to hit Pedroia on purpose under those conditions, and the Rays are clearly not a stupid team.

I agree with @indaburg^^^^, after the first pitch that went behind his legs it was obvious he was intentionally throwing at him, followed by 95+ fastballs on the inside. I also thought Salty instigated the situation by bumping Scott after he got plunked.

Astrosfan, the only reason BJ got involved with a fan is cause someone threw something at him.

Bloueblood, Pena got into it with the pitching coach cause he was a Rays coach before and was then talking shit and most 60yr old men can still hold their own, I also remember a Red Sox pitcher once throwing an old man to the ground by his head, that was funny thou

They hit Gonzales intentionally and now they go after Pedroia (and this HBP wasn’t the first attempt at Pedroia by the Rays this season). And now Maddon plays the shocked victim because the Sox responded by hitting his player in the leg. It’s about time the Sox responded. If the Rays weren’t in the same division as the hated Yankees and Red Sox, more national fans would realize that that Maddon’s teams have been dirtier than most.

The Red Sox already got even by plunking Scott and Rhymes in St. Pete. And if the Pedroia hit was intentional, it means Badenhop is a better pitcher than Morales as only one pitch went anywhere near Dustin, the one that caught him in the back. Morales missed three times showing intent before finally catching Scott around the knee. You do not go for knees or heads, Red Sox jerk.

Boys will be boys, but when do they ever grow up? If a player gets hit and it’s determined by the umpiring staff that it was intentional, that person should get ejected. Period. Why do teams have to empty their benches and put more players at risk to be ejected? MEN!!! They’ll never learn!

Dude got something thrown on him and the fan was chucked by security. Of course he’s going to react. Buy a ducket doesn’t give you the right to chuck your beer or whatever it was on somebody. Your statement only makes sense if B.J. went into the stands and/or decked the guy.

There are bad fans in every city in every sport. To single out one teams fans is stupid. I’ve seen idiots in many places in many sports. These idiots make up about 5% of the fans but they are the ones that we hear about.